GrEBMAN   IlYMNOLOGY,  - 

By  the  Rev.  Tlionms  C.  Porter,  Lancaster,  Pa. 


I: 


THE 

MERCERSBURG  REVIEW. 

APRIL,  1860. 


A       Hi         .       Uk*V**<       -7 

over  written  or  spoken  in  the  world. 

Although  no  tongue,  probably,  will  ever  be  a  language 
for  the  world,  nor  are  we  Bure  that  this  is  desirable,  yet  the 

English  has  certainly  the  best  prospect  for  becoming  nearly 
ho.  Upon  the  Empire  of  Britain  the  sun  never  sets;  and 
her  language  is  a  familiar  sound  in  every  quarter  of  the 
globe.  It  is  the  common  speech  of  the  two  most  power- 
ful, enterprising,  commercial  nations  known  to  history. 
British  and  American  commerce  cannot  fail  to  carry  it,  as 

t/  ' 

on  the  wings  of  the  wind,  to  the  utmost  ends  of  the  earth. 
These  nations  also  are  more  influenced  by  the  missionary 
spirit  of  the  Gospel  of  Christ  than  any  other  ;  and  the 
heralds  they  are  sending  forth  to  the  benighted  and  waste 
places  of  the  earth  appear  to  be  destined  in  the  providence 
of  God  to  be  the  principle  instruments  in  diffusing  Chris- 
tianity throughout  the  world.  The  introduction  of  their 
language  accompanies  this  mighty  work  almost  as  a  matter 
of  course.  Who  then  can  say  when  the  triumphs  of  the 
English  tongue  shall  cease?  Who  can  limit  its  power  to 
direct  and  control  the  interests  of  the  human  race? 


228  German  IIymnotof)fr--~~-S^^    [April, 


1/ 

Art.  IV.—  GERMAN  HYMNOLOGY. 

The  following  article,  translated  from  the  German  of  Dr. 
Philip  Schaff,  was  published  in  the  Deutsche  Kirehenfreund  of 
December  last,  and  intended  as  an  introduction  for  the  new 
Gesangbuch  by  the  same  author.*  Of  late  years  the  interest  in 
hymnology  has  been  steadily  growing  among  the  English 
Churches  of  America,  and  many  wTill  no  doubt  be  glad  to  learn 
what  our  German  brethren  have  done,  and  are  now  doing,  in 
this  important  field.  A  like  fate  has  befallen  the  treasures  of 
sacred  song  in  both  languages,  although  the  English  have  not 
suffered  to  as  great  an  extent  as  the  German.  Yet  they  too 
have  been  sadly  curtailed  and  mutilated  by  rude,  unskillful 
hands,  and,  wrorse  than  all,  forced  to  give  up  the  utterances  of 
faith  and  devotion,  and  in  too  many  cases  leceive,  instead,  the 
bald,  prosaic  substitutions  of  a  rationalistic  age  A  revival  and 
restoration  of  the  old,  pure  unaltered  originals  (few  classic 
hymns  have  become  antiquated  in  our  tongue)  is  loudly  called 
for,  and  he  will  perform  a  truly  good  work,  who  takes  the 
pains  to  collect,  compile  and  publish  a  complete  thesaurus  of 
English  hymns,  as  given  to  the  world  by  the  poets  who  wrote 
them.  This  would  form  a  solid  basis  for  all  future  hymn-books 
and  relieve  coming  generations  from  endless  confusion. 

The  Gesangbuch  of  Dr.  Schaff  is  a  model  of  its  kind.  Its 
order  is  clear,  simple,  artistic,  churchly;  its  selection  of  hymns, 
made  in  accordance  with  sound  taste  and  fervid  piety,  em- 
braces the  finest  productions  of  the  Christian  Muse  of  all  ages; 
its  critical,  historical  and  biographical  annotations  are  of  great 
value,  especially  to  the  English  scholar,  and  its  style  of  publi- 
cation corresponds  in  every  respect  with  the  demands  of  the 
age  and  the  excellent  character  of  its  contents. 


THE  TRANSLATOR. 


"  0  sing  unto  the  Lord  a  new  song  :  singnnto  thcLord, 
all  the  earth.     Sing  unto  the  Lord,  bless  his  name  ;  show 


*  Deutsches  Gcmnghucli.     Line  Auswahl  geistliclier  Liedcr  aus  alien  Zeiten 
der  Christlichen  Kirchc.     Nach  den  besten  hymnologischen  Quellen  bearbei- 
tet  und  rait  erlauterndenBemerkungen  iiber  die  Verfasser,  der  In  halt,  und 
Geschichte  der  Liedcr  vcrschen,  von  Philipp  Schaff,  Prof,  und  Dr.    der  Theol. 
Philadelphia-     1859. 


I860.]  German  Hymnotogy.  229 

forth  hie  salvation  from  day  to  day.  Declare  his  glory 
among  the  heathen,  his  wonders  among  all  people."  Such 
was  the  appeal  made  hy  the  sweet  singer  of  Israel,  in  the 
OGth  Psalm,  to  the  church  of  the  Old  Testament.  k'Be 
filled  with  the  Spirit  ;  speaking  to  yourselves  in  psalms 
and  hymns  and  Spiritual  songs,  singing  and  making  melo- 
dy in  your  heart  to  the  Lord  ;  giving  thanks  always  for  all 
things  unto  God  and  the  Father  in  the  name  of  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ."  Thus  the  apostle  of  the  Xew  Testament 
exhorted  "  the  saints  and  faithful  brethren"  at  Ephesus  and 
Colosse. 

Here  we  find  that  God  himself  has  consecrated  the  two 
noblest  of  the  fine  arts  to  his  service,  and  assigned  them 
an  enduring  place  of  honor  in  the  worship  of  his  sanctu- 
ary. Christianity,  which  entered  the  world  amid  the  an- 
them of  the  heavenly  host  :  "  Glory  to  God  in  the  highest, 
and  on  earth  peace,  good  will  toward  men,"  contains  an 
inexhaustible  store  of  the  richest  material  for  the  fairest 
and  grainiest  creations  of  poetry  and  music,  suited  to  the 
tongues  both  of  men  and  of  angels. 

Among  the  various  kinds  of  religious  "poetrv,  the  hymn 
exerts  by  far  the  greatest  influence  upon  the  Christian  life 
in  the  church,  the  school  and  the  family.  Lyrical  in  its 
structure,  it  differs  from  other  forms  of  lyrical  poetry,  as 
the  ode,  the  elegy  and  the  sonnet,  in  its  religious  contents 
and  the  ease  with  which  it  may  be  understood  and  sung. 
What  the  popular  song  (volks-lied)  is  to  the  nation  that 
the  hymn  is  to  the  Church.  It  embodies  the  profound  and 
living  ideas  of  Holy  Writ  in  plain,  pure,  melodious  lan- 
guage, and,  representing  in  its  own  subjective  experience 
the  experience  of  all  Christendom,  is  equally  at  home  in 
the  house  of  God  and  in  the  exercises  of  private  devotion. 
The  most  sacred  kind  of  poetry  and  glorified  by  its  use  in 
worship,  it  rises  as  a  sweet-smelling  sacrifice  from  the 
.earthly  altar  to  the  throne  of  God.  It  is  the  highest  flower 
of  the  Christian  life,  arrayed  in  a  festal  garb  of  beauty. 

The  church-hymn  is  one  of  the  most  powerful  means  for 
promoting  the   unity  of  the  faith  and   the   cv         nion    of 


230  German  Hymnology.  [April, 

saints.  In  the  general  chorus  the  voice  of  the  individual 
is  lost,  only  to  be  borne  np  heavenward  on  the  wings  of  the 
common  devotion.  Genuine  spiritual  songs  contain  noth- 
ing dogmatically  exclusive,  are  not  denominational  or  sec- 
tarian in  the  bad  sense  of  the  word,  but  truly  Christian  and 
catholic,  a  popular  expression  of  the  simplest  and  deepest 
religious  feelings  of  the  heart.  What  a  Luther  or  Paul 
Gerhardt,  a  Joachim  Meander  or  Tersteegen  have  produced, 
can  be  sung  and  prayed  by  Reformed  and  Lutheran  con- 
gregations with  equal  fervor.  When  such  hymns  as  "Em' 
feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott,"  "  O  Haupt  voll  Blut  und 
Wunden,"  "  Nun  danket  Alle  Gott,"  "Lobe  den  Herrn, 
den  maehtigen Konig  derEhren,"  "Gott  istgegenwartig" 
are  sung,  the  Evangelical  Church  forgets  all  her  internal 
strifes  and  party  interests  and  feels  herself  to  be  one  heart 
and  one  soul.  Even  the  strong  antagonism  between  the 
Catholic  and  the  Protestant  is  drowned  amid  the  harmonies 
of  the  "  Gloria  in  excelsis"  and  the  "Te  Deum."  In  this 
respect  the  hymns  of  the  Christian  Church  are  like  the 
psalms — the  common  property  of  all.  The}^  find  an  echo 
in  all  pious  hearts,  and  possess  an  imperishable  power  and 
freshness,  like  the  sun  in  his  daily  rising  and  the  spring  in 
its  annual  return.  Instead  of  being  worn  out  by  age  and 
use,  their  influence  is  extended  and  deepened  every  year 
•and  every  century.  They  resemble  those  healing  herbs, 
which  the  more  they  are  rubbed  give  out  richer  odors. 
The  23rd,  51st,  and  103rd  psalms  of  David,  the  hymn  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  and  the  Te  Deum  of  the  ancient  Church 
can  not  be  read  and  sung  to-day,  without  bringing  home 
to  us  the  communion  of  numberless  saints,  whom  they 
have  edified  m  past  ages  and  who  from  the  heights  of  heav- 
en sympathize  in  the  worship  of  the  militant  Church  as 
she  sings  and  prays  on  earth. 

JSTot  only  does  the  hymn  serve  to  enkindle  the  fires  of 
devotion  in  the  sanctuary,  but  it  also  accompanies  the  inT 
dividual  members  of  the  congregation,  in  the  domestic  cir- 
cle and  the  quiet  chamber,  as  a  protecting  and  comforting 
angel,  in  their  pilgrimage  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave.     It 


18G0.]  German  fiymnology.  281 

awakens  them  from  the  sleep  of  sin,  strengthens  them  in 
the  faith,  tills  them  with  holy  emotions,  inspires  them  to 
divine  thoughts  and  deeds,  arms  them  for  conflicl  and  vic- 
tory against  all  enemies,  hallows  their  joys,  sweetens  their 
sorrows,  encourages  them  to  patience  and  resignation  and 
comforts  them  in  the  last  hour  with  a  foretaste  of  the  per- 
fect worship  of  Heaven,  where  the  innumerable  hosl  of  the 
redeemed,  of  all  ages,  laud.s  and  tongues,  together  with  an- 
and  archangels,  never  grow  weary  of  extolling,  as  with 
one  mouth  and  heart  and  in  ever  new  ways,  the  wonderful 
works  of  almighty  wisdom  and  love  in  the  realms  of  na- 
ture and  grace. 

Thus  psalms  and  spiritual  songs  continue  from  gen- 
eration to  generation  the  true  benefactors  of  struggling  and 
suffering  humanity,  ministering  angels  "sent  forth  to  min- 
ister  for  them  who  shall  be  heirs  of  salvation."  The  histo- 
ry of  their  blessed  influence  may  be  traced  in  the  biogra- 
phies of  the  most  pious  and  enlightened  Christians,  but 
will  only  fully  appear  on  that  day  when  all  that  is  hidden 
shall  be  revealed.  If  Scaliger,  the  celebrated  scholar,  de- 
clared that  he  would  rather  be  the  author  of  a  certain  ode 
of  Horace  than  king  of  Aragon,  the  pious  Gellcrt  said,  with 
still  better  reason,  that  he  would  rather  have  composed  a 
few  of  the  old  classic  church  hymns  than  all  the  odes  of 
Pindar  and  Horace,  and  added,  that  if  by  his  own  he  could 
contribute  in  any  measure  to  the  edification  of  God's  peo- 
ple it  would  give  him  more  joy  than  to  possess  "  the  fame 
of  the  greatest  epic- poet  and  the  most  eloquent  philosopher 
of  all  nations."* 

Hence,  next  to  the  Sacred  Scriptures,  at  least  for  the 
German  nation,  with  its  love  of  poetry  and  music,  no  reli- 
gious aid  is  more  indispensable  in  church,  school  and  fam- 
ily than  a  book  of  hymns,  which  are  not  only  heard  and 
read,  but  also  prayed  and  sung,  which  live  not  only  in  the 
mouths,  but  in  the  hearts  of  the  people  and  carry  their 
awakening,  sanctifying  and  consoling  power  into  the  daily 
affairs  of  life. 


*   Preface  to  his  GeistUchen  Oden  and  Liedern.     Leipzig.   176T. 


232  German  Hymnology.  [April, 

The  history  of  hymnology  is  one  of  the  most  interesting 
branches  of  chnrch -hi story,  and  equally  important  for  the 
development  of  Christian  life  and  Christian  worship  (cul- 
tus).  It  is  like  a  garden  filled  with  fragrant  flowers  that 
bloom  in  unfading  beauty.  It  shows  us  piety  in  its  purest 
forms,  severest  conflicts,  must  precious  experiences,  most 
blessed  enjoyments,  and  in  its  essential  unity,  despite  all 
the  variations  of  language  and  race.  The  tears  of  peni- 
tence, the  joys  of  faith,  the  glow  of  love,  the  consolations 
of  hope,  the  strength  of  patience  are  the  same  in  all  ages 
and  here  assemble  around  the  altar  of  devotion  as  an  offer- 
ing of  praise  and  thanksgiving  to  the  Triune  God,  who  has 
created,  redeemed  and  sanctified  us  and  is  alone  worthy  to 
receive  honor,  glory  and  adoration  from  everlasting  to 
everlasting. 

The  Psalms  of  the  Old  Testament- form  the  most  ancient 
book  of  church-poetry  extant.  The  religious  lyric  poetry 
of  the  Hebrews  reached  its  highest  point  in  the  age  of 
David  and  Solomon  and  lent  to  the  temple-service  an  ex- 
traordinary solemnity.  The  royal  psalmist,  from  whom  the 
whole  collection  takes  its  name,  appointed  no  fewer  than 
four  thousand  singers,  arranged  in  twenty  four  courses, 
under  two  hundred  and  eighty-eight  leaders  (1  Chron.  1G : 
6,  and  ch.  25).  Accompanied  by  the  music  of  trumpets, 
cymbals,  harps  and  other  instruments  they  sang  the  psalms 
whilrft  the  people  chimed  in  responsively  or  sang  after 
them.  Stamped  with  the  seal  of  divine  authority  and  con- 
firmed by  the  example  of  the  Saviour  at  the  institution  of 
the  Holy  Supper,  (Matth.  26,  30.)  these  psalms  are  used  to 
this  day  in  all  lands  and  confessions  of  Christendom,  partly 
in  the  form  of  literal  translations,  and  partly  in  the  form 
of  metrical  reproductions,  in  which  the  language  of  the 
New  Testament  is  often  substituted  for  that  of  the  Old.  In 
versions  of  this  kind  the  English  Church  is  particularly 
rich. 

Next  to  the  Psalms,  we  find,  on  the  threshhold  of  the 
New  Dispensation,  the  glorious  hymns  of  the  Virgin  Mary 
(the  so-called  Magnificat,  Luke  I:  46  ff.),  of  Zacharias  (the 


I860.]]  German  Uymnoloyy :  '2- 

Benedictue,  1  :  OS  ff),  of  the  heavenly  host  (the  Gloria,  2  : 
14),  of  Simeon  (2:  2D),  and  those  songs  of  the  early  church, 
of  which  at  least  traces  and  hints  exist  in  the  apostolic 
writings*).  But  the  New  Testament  contains  everywhere 
the  most  fruitful  germs  of  poetry  and  many  of  the  iinest 
church-hymns  are  merely  variations  of  single  words  of 
Christ  and  the  Apostles. 

The  Greek  Church  was  the  first  to  inaugurate  church  - 
hymnology  as  distinguished  from  that  which  is  purely 
biblical  or  divine.  Her  first  attempts  were  doxologiea,  or, 
at  most,  ascriptions  of  praise  to  God  or  Christ,  compiled 
from  passages  of  the  Bible.  The  heathen  governor, 
Pliny,  testifies,  in  the  beginning  of  the  second  century, 
that  the  Christians  in  their  assemblies  were  accustomed  to 
sing  hymns  to  Christ  as  their  God,  and  Eusebius,  the 
church-historian,  speaks,  in  the  beginning  of  the  fourth, 
of  many  Christian  psalms  and  odes,  which  glorify  Christ 
as  the  divine  Word  (Logos).  To  the  ancient  Greek  Church 
we  arc  indebted  for  two  grand,  psalm-like  anthems,  the 
"Gloria  in  excelsis,"  which  arose  from  the  song  of  the 
angels  in  Luke  2  :  14,  and  the  "  Te  Deum,"  which  was 
afterwards  translated  into  Latin  and  enlarged  by  Ambrose. 
Almost  contemporaneous  with  the  Greek  hymnology 
stands  that  of  the  Syrian  Church,  in  which  the  deacon, 
Ephraim  of  Edcssa  (f378)  plays  the  chief  part.  Its  influ- 
ence, however,  was  confined  to  the  land  of  its  birth. 

With  the  fourth  century  begins  the  history  of  the  Latin 
hymnology,  among  whose  poets  the  names  ot  Ambrose 
(t367),  Hilary  (f3t>8),  Prudentius  (f405),  Augustine  (1430), 
Fortunatus  (f600),  Xotker  (|912),  Bernard  of  Clairvaux 
(fH53),  Thomas  von  Celano  (f  about  1250),  Bonaventura 
(fl274),  Thomas  Aquinas  (fl274),  and  Jacobus  dc  Bene- 
dicts (|130C)  occupy  the  most  prominent  place. 

The  ancient  Latin  and  medieval  Church  produced  many 
immortal  hymns  and  sequences,    full  of  majesty,    dignity 

*  See  Acts  4:  24-30.  Bph.  5:  14,  19,  Col.  3:  1G.  1  Tim.  3:  16.  I 
Tim.  2  :  II.  James  1  :  17.  Kev.  1  :  4-8,  5  :  <J-li,  11  :  15-1«J,  16  :  8  t.,  21  | 
1-8,  22:  10-17,20. 


234  German  Hymnology.  ]April, 

and  power,  which  served  as  models  to  the  oldest  evangeli- 
cal writers.  Thus  more  than  half  of  Luther's  six  and 
thirty  hymns  are  free  translations  and  poetical  paraphrases 
of  psalms  and  Latin  originalsf;  Gerhardt's  touching  passion- 
hymn  :  "  O  Ilaupt,  voll  Blut  und  Wunden,"  is  based  on 
St.  Bernard's  "  Salve  caput  cruentatum,"  and  several  of 
the  finest  judgment  hymns,  both  in  German  and  English, 
are  for  the  most  part  echoes  of  the  terrible  "Dies  irae,"  which 
will  no  doubt  retain  its  power  to  shake  the  human  soul, 
until  the  last  day,  the  day  of  wrath  itself,  shall  come.  The 
Evangelical  Church  has  not  broken  with  history  in  a  radi- 
cal manner,  but  here  also,  as  in  retaining  the  oecumenical 
creeds,  holds  firmly  to  her  connection  with  all  that  is  true 
and  good  in  the  Christianity  of  past  ages. 

And  yet  the  Evangelical  Protestant  Church  has  far  sur- 
passed both  the  Greek  and  the  Latin  in  the  variety  and 
number  of  her  hymnological  creations.  The  Reformation 
had  the  peculiar  honor  of  giving  birth  to  the  genuine  pop- 
ular church-hymn  in  the  vernacular  tongue,  as  well  as 
singing  by  the  whole  congregation.  This  stood  in  bold 
contrast  with  the  mediaeval  practice,  in  which  the  priest 
and  choir  alone  sang,  and  that  in  the  Latin  language,  an 
unknown  tongue  to  the  majority  of  the  people.  The  doc- 
trine of  the  universal  priesthood  of  believers  came  thus  to 
be  recognized  in  the  family  and  in  the  public  worship  of 
the  sanctuary.  Among  the  different  Protestant  Churches, 
that  of  Germany,  beyond  all  question,  holds  the  first  rank 
in  the  history  of  hymnology.  Her  treasures  of  this  kind 
are  by  far  the  richest,  and  furnish  a  brilliant  proof  of  the 
poetic  and  religious  endowments  of  the  German  nation  and 
the  inward  power  of  her  evangelical  faith.  German  hymn- 
ology, if  we  except  a  few  imperfect  beginnings  in  the  mid- 
dle ages,  started  into  life  with  the  Reformation,  and  accom- 


j-  Twelve  are  translations  of  old  catholic  hymns,  of  which  ten  had  been 
translated  into  German  before;  seven  are  versions  of  Latin  psalms;  four, 
improvements  of  older  German  originals  ;  eight,  elaborations  of  particular 
passages  of  the  Bible,  and  five,  altogether  from  his  own  pen.  See  the  modern 
works  of  Crusius,  Pasig,  Ph.  Wackernagal  and  Schircks  on  "Luther's  geistliehe 
Lictlcr,"  and  E.  E.  Koch's  "Geschichte  des  Kirchenlieds  und  Kirchengcsangs*' 
(V.  1.  p.  80  f.  of  the  2d  ed.  of  1852). 


I860.]  German  Ttymnology.  23f> 

panied  it  as  a  herald   in  its    swift  and    victorious  career 
through  German  lands,  whilst  the  Protestant  Churches  oi' 
Switzerland,  France,  Holland  and  England,  for  a  longtime 
after,  contented  themselves  with   metrical  versions  of  the 
Psalms.     The  first  German   evangelical   hymn-hook,   the 
so-called  Wittenberg   Enchiridion,   appeared  in  the  year 
15'2-j  and  contained  eight  hymns  (four  by  Luther,  three  1 
Speratus  and  one  by  an  unknown  author;;  the  Erfurt  Bn- 
chiridon   of  1524  could   boast  already   of  twenty  five   (of 
which  eighteen   were   from  Luther)  ;  the  hymn  hook   of 
Walter,  of  the  same  year,  numbered  thirty-two;   King's  of 
1529  had  fifty-four;  Babst's  of  1545,  eighty-nine,   and  the 
second  edition,  of  1566,   as  many  as  four  hundred  hymn-. 
Since  then  the  German  hymnology  has  received  accessions 
with  the  lapse  of  almost  every  decade,  and  now  counts,  as 
the   result  of  three  hundred   years'  activity,    about  eighty 
thousand  spiritual  song*.*     Of  these  at  least  several  hun- 
dred are  classical,  and,  as  far  as  the  German   language  ex- 
tends, have  come  into  general  use,   whilst  the  fifteen  cen- 
turies before  the  Reformation  can  scarcely  show  one  thou- 
sand hymns  in  all,  of  which  only  about  one   hundred  and 
fifty,  at  most,  have  attained  a  living  power  in  the  Church, 
or,  more  properly,  among  the  clergy. 

To  this  treasury  of  German  song,  several  hundred  men 
and  women  of  all  ranks  and  conditions, — theologians  ami 
pastors,  princes  and  princesses,  generals  and  statesmen, 
physicians  and  jurists,  merchants  and  travellers,  laborers 
and  private  persons — have  made  contributions,  laying  them 
on  the  common  altar  of  devotion.  Many  of  these  hymns, 
and  just  those  possessed  of  the  greatest  vigor  and  unction, 
full  of  the  most  exulting  faith  and  the  richest  comfort,  had 
their  origin  amid  the  conflicts  and  storms  of  the  Reforma- 
tion, or  the  fearful  devastations  and  nameless  misery  of  tin- 
Thirty  Years'  War;  others  belong  to  the  revival-period  of 
Spencriau  Pietism  and  the  Moravian  Brotherhood,  and  r< 


*  The  Loiderlexicon  of  C.  L.  v.  Hardenberg  (5  vol.),  in  the  public  library 

itHaljeratadi  -  with  the  year  17b6,  yet.  contains  7-.7^J  hymns  with  an 

index  of  the  first  lines. 


236  German  Hymnology.  [April, 

fleet  its  earnest  struggle  after  holiness,  the  fire  of  first  love 
and  the  sweet  enjoyment  of  the  soul's  intercourse  with  her 
Heavenly  Bridegroom  ;  not  a  few  of  them  sprang  up  even 
in  the  unbelieving  age  of  "illumination  "  and  rationalism, 
like  flowers  from  dry  ground,  or  alpine  roses  on  fields  of 
snow  ;  others,  again,  proclaim,  in  fresh  and  joyous  tones, 
the  dawn  of  reviving  faith  in  the  land  where  the  Reforma- 
tion had  its  birth.  Thus  these  hymns  constitute  a  mo3t 
graphic  book  of  confession  for  German  evangelical  Christi- 
anity, a  sacred  band  which  encircles  its  various  periods,  au 
abiding  memorial  of  its  victories,  its  sorrows  and  its  joys,  a 
elear  mirror  showing  its  deepest  experiences,  and  an  elo- 
quent witness  for  the  all-conquering  and  invincible  life- 
power  of  the  evangelical  Christian  faith. 

The  period  of  decay  in  the  Protestant  Church  of  Ger- 
many, which  began  about  the  middle  of  the  last  century 
and  continued  far  into  the  present,  laid,  alas!  its  thankless 
and  profane  hands  upon  the  treasures  of  sacred  song  and 
buried  them  under  heaps  of  rubbish  for  several  genera- 
tions. And  yet,  during  this  very  time  German  poetry  and 
music  were  soaring  in  their  highest  flights ;  but  the  great- 
est poets  and  musical  composers — we  need  only  name 
Goethe  and  Schiller,  Mozart  and  Beethoven — felt  them- 
selves repelled  from  a  cold  and  degenerate  Church  and  de- 
voted their  brilliant  powers  almost  exclusively  to  profane 
art,  wThich  may,  however,  be  regarded  as  the  forerunner  of 
a  new  age  of  religious  art. 

The  beginning  of  this  unfortunate  hymnological  revolution 
was  made  with  well-meaning  zeal  and  without  any  presen- 
timent of  its  mischievous  consequences,  by  gifted  poets 
and  worthy  men  like  Klopstock,  who,  in  the  year  1758, 
along  with  his  own  spiritual  odes,  published  twenty-nine  of 
the  old  hymns  in  an  altered  form.  Soon  after  appeared 
modernized  hymn-books  by  Andreas  Cramer,  John  Adolph 
Schlegel,  John  Samuel  Diterich,  and  G.  Joachim  Zollikof- 
fer.  The  aim  of  these  men  was  not  so  much  to  injure  the 
d.octrinal  contents  as  to  soften  down  the  frequent  rude 
phrases  of  the  old  hymns,  in  order  to  make  them  run  more 


1860. J  (    rman  Hymnology.  2-37 

smoothly  to  suit  the  taste  of  the  age,  hut  they  knew  not 
how  to  value  their  venerable  quaintness  and  genial  simpli- 
city and  very  often  by  new  modes  of  expression  weakened 
the  power  of  the  thought.  Thus,  for  example,  Schlegel 
(1705)  ventured  even  to  convert  Luther's  "  Ein'  feste  Burg," 
because  of  the  whollv  innocent  and  admissible  elision  in 
the  article,  into  "Kin  starker  Shut/,"  and  the  lines  of 
Hermann  : 

"  I'allt  inir  etwafl  Arges  cin, 
Dcnk  ich  glek-h  an  Deise  Pern, 
Die  erlaubei  nieincm  Ilcrzen 
Mi(  dor  Siinde  nicht  zu  scherzen." 

merely  on  account  of  the  unusual  position  of  the  negative, 
into  : 

"  Mich  BOllt'  ich  durch  Siind'  cntwcih'n  '.' 
Nein,  ich  dcnk,  an  Deine  Tcin 
Ach,  den  g:\nzen  Gr'au'l  dcr  Siindcn 
Lasst  rnich  die  mit  Griiu'n  einpfinden." 

— a  change  for  the  worse,  viewed  simply  from  an  aesthetic 
stand-point.  Ditericb  acted  with  still  more  freedom  and 
caprice,  since,  in  his  hymn-book  of  1765,  which  was  first 
brought  out  as  an  appendix  to  that  of  Porst  in  Berlin,  he 
altered  and  re-wrought  in  part  not  only  the  older  hymns, 
but  also  those  selected  from  the  writings  of  Gellert. 

After  him  came  a  whole  swarm  of  ollicious  hymnological 
tinkers,  whose  very  names  are  now  almost  forgotten,  neologi- 
cal  counsellors  of  the  consistory,   court-preachers,   general 
superintendents  and  poetasters,  utterly  devoid  of  sympathy 
with  the  spirit  of  the  old  hymns,  as  well  as  of  poetic  sense 
and  taste.     In  their  hands,  under  the  growing  influence  of 
rationalism,  the  desire  for  reform,  at  iirst  well-meant  and 
in  some  respects  not  altogether  unjustifiable,  degenerated 
more  and   more  into  an   Erostratic  mania  for  mutilating, 
weakening  and  diluting,  which  sometimes  approached  the 
borders  of  profanity.     The  glorious  classic  productions  of 
an  age  of  faith  were  wantonly  deprived  of  their  specifically 
Christian  contents  and  poetic  beauty,  so  as  scared}7  to  be 
recognized,  or  cast  overboard  as  antiquated  and  offensive, 
in  order  to  make  room  for  the  tedious  rhvmings  of  a  pro- 
5 


238  German  Hymnology.  [April, 

eaic  reliofion  of  reason  and  virtue,  or  asicklv  and  mawkish 
sentimentalism.  Penitence  was  now  converted  into  im- 
provement, sanctiiication  into  self-ennoblement,  piety  into 
virtue,  faith  into  religion,  eternal  life  into  the  better  world 
and  the  joys  of  reunion  :  yea,  the  living  Christ  himself  had 
to  make  room  for  Christianity  in  the  abstract,  and  the  per- 
sonal God,  for  the  Deity,  Providence  or  even  Fate.  In- 
stead of  hymns  of  faith  and  salvation,  the  congregations 
were  obliged,  from  that  time  forward,  to  sing  "  moral  ser- 
mons in  rhyme  "  upon  the  proofs  for  the  existence  of  God 
and  immortality,  upon  all  possible  virtues  and  duties,  upon 
the  glorious  endowments  and  dignity  of  man,  upon  the 
five  senses,  upon  "the  flourishing  condition  of  the  sciences, 
trade,  navigation  and  manufactures,"  upon  the  nurture  of 
the  body,  upon  the  care  of  animals  and  trees,  and  even  upon 
the  cow-pox.* 

Along  with  this  deterioration  in  books  of  hymns  a  sim- 
ilar revolution  in  books  of  church-music  went  hand  in  hand. 
"  Hymn  and  choral" — says  an  accomplished  connoisseur 
of  evangelical  church-musicf — "sermon  and  prayer,  shared 
a  like  fate — a  rapid  falling  away  from  plain,  free,  direct 
expression,  humble,  inward,  hearty,  strong,  enthusiastic 
faith,  depth  of  spirit,  and  adaptation  to  the  wants  of  the 
people,  into  the  empty  void  of  abstract,   reflexive  subjec- 


0  Numerous  and  striking  proofs  of  the  correctness  cf  this  picture  may  be 
found  in  several  hymnological  essays  from  C.  v.  Raumer  and  Cud  sen  in  the 
Evangelische  Kirchenzeitung  of  1829  and  1830,  especially  in  Nos.  32  and  33; 
al^o,  in  the  well-known  writings  of  Stier  and  Kraz  on  the  "  Gcsangbucb-:- 
noth."  Yet  even  in  its  first  beginnings  the  mischief  stirred  up  righteous  in- 
dignation. The  genial  poet,  Schubart  (f  1791  j,  who  was  awakened  to  serious 
reflection  upon  the  folly  of  his  previous  life,  in  the  fortress  of  Hohenasperg, 
used  this  language  :  "  Wo  to  us,  if  Luther's  translation  of  the  Bible  had  shar- 
ed the  same  fate  as  our  hymn-books,  which  in  every  Protestant  province  or 
<  ity  have  been  so  often  published  by  spiritless,  unpoetic  and  terribly  dogma- 
tizing or  else  boldly  neologizing  compilers.  In  them  our  finest  hymns  are 
frequently  diluted,  maimed  or  reduced  to  a  state  of  complete  deformity  !  In 
former  days  a  journeyman  of  Aalen  could  sing  a  spiritual  song  in  brotherly 
communion  with  his  fellow-crafts  men  from  Gottingen,  Bremen,  Hamburg  or 
Berlin.  But  now,  hymns  have  as  many  various  forms  as  there  are  cities ; 
now,  spiritual  concord  in  singing  is  hushed  and  all  unity  of  faith  and  spirii 
would  cease  amongst  us,  were  it  not  for  Luther's  Bible."  Herder,  Goethe, 
Claudius  and  Hamann  also  raised  their  protest  against  this  hymnological 
vandalism. 

f  Baron  Von  Tucber  in  the  Preface  to  his  "  Sch'atz  des  evangclischen  Kirch - 
cngesangs,"  etc.     Stuttgart,  1840. 


I860.]  German  Ilymnology.  239 

tivity,  a  lofty  estimate  of  human  knowledge,  opinion  and 
feeling,  the  platitude  of  dull  reasoning  and  moralizing-,  and 
thus  an  extinction  of  spiritual  life  and  Christian  sympathy." 
Manv  of  the  best  old  chorals  were  now  consigned  to  ob- 
livion,  whilst  others  were  translated  from  the  living,  vig- 
orous church-style  into  the  heavy,  tedious  style  of  the 
schools,  or  displaced  by  now  tunes  of  a  dry,  didactic  char- 
acter. According  to  the  maxim  then  adopted,  that  slow- 
ness is  the  true  measure  of  solemnity,  the  dragging  monot- 
ony of  common  time  with  perpetual  half  notes  of  equal  val- 
ue, which  best  harmonized  with  the  spiritual  relaxation 
and  prosaic  sobriety  of  the  age  of  "  illumination,"  usurped 
the  place  of  the  old,  inspiring  rhythm,  with  is  lively  move- 
ment that  well  corresponded  to  the  strength  and  inward- 
ness of  faith  expressed  in  the  hymns  themselves.  "  Cho- 
ral singing  " — as  Koch  justly  observes* — "  lost  in  this  way 
all  its  freshness  and  life,  and  received  an  impress  of  un- 
common tediousness,  dulness  and  uniformity,  so  that  one 
choral  seems  almost  like  the  other." 

Thus  Germanv,  in  the  name  of  her  consistories  and 
reigning  princes,  without  consulting  the  people,  who  had 
no  voice  in  the  matter  or  vainly  resisted  it,  was  in  a  few 
years  overwhelmed  by  a  real  deluge  of  bulky  hymn-books 
and  books  of  chorals,  wholly  destitute  of  spirit  and  unction, 
which  instead  of  nourishing  piety  did  more  to  destroy  it 
than  the  rationalism  taught  in  the  professorial  chairs  of 
the  universities.  At  the  same  time,  by  reason  of  the  in- 
dependent position  of  the  multitude  of  established  church- 
es, large  and  small,  in  the  German  States  and  the  Swiss 
Cantons,  which  all  put  forth  their  own  books  of  hymns 
and  chorals  according  to  a  special  pattern,  there  appeared, 
instead  of  the  earlier  spiritual  concord  of  song,  a  frightful 
Babylonish  confusion,  which  it  will  cost  great  labor  to  re- 
duce again  to  harmony, — a  task  only  to  be  accomplished 
by  a  prudent  return  to  the  good  and  old. 

Nevertheless,  it   cannot  be  said,   that  the   illumination- 

*  In  his  work  already  cited:  "Goschichte  des  Kircheulieds  und  Kirchenge- 
sangs,  v.  3.  p.  251. 


240  German  Hymnology.  [April, 

period  was  productive  of  pare  mischief.  It  has,  at  least 
negatively,  paved  the  way  for  such  a  reproduction  of  the 
old,  as  will  retain  its  substance,  purified  from  accidental 
dross,  cast  into  better  form,  enriched  with  the  gifts  of  a 
later  age  and  adapted  to  the  use  of  the  Church  of  the  pres- 
ent. God  knows  how  to  bring  good  even  out  of  the  ruin 
which  man  has  wrought,  and  is  able  to  turn  the  apparent 
obstructions  in  the  path  of  his  Church  to  her  ultimate  ad- 
vantage. Under  his  wise  guidance  all  errors  can  but  serve 
at  last  to  aid  the  triumph  of  the  truth. 

The  sadly  mutilated  and  disfigured  hymnology  just  por- 
trayed, as  one  might  suppose,  has  found  its  way  also  into 
the  German  Churches  of  America.  We  will  here  make 
beforehand  two  or  three  honorable  exceptions,  with  the  re- 
striction, however,  that  the  book  which  is  the  best  and 
most  useful  amongst  them  has  been  taken  almost  entirely 
from  the  new  Wiirternberg  Hymn  Book,  with  all  its  de- 
fects and  errors,  and  from  the  first  edition  of  Knapp's  Lied- 
ershatz,  now  superseded  and  rendered  worthless  for  critical 
purposes  by  a  second  fully  revised  and  more  complete. 
Most  of  the  American  German  hymn-books,  and  those 
which  enjoy  the  widest  circulation,  have  been  derived  from 
the  dreary  period  when  religious  and  churchly  life  were  at 
their  lowest  ebb  in  the  fatherland.  The  contents,  obtained 
from  a  few  secondary  sources,  are  strung  together  with  no 
previous  study  or  insight,  no  poetic  feeling  or  taste,  no 
logical  order  or  method,  with  innumerable  blunders  in  or- 
thography and  punctuation,  indeed,  we  may  say,  with  in- 
credible ignorance  and  carelessness.  Many  of  the  very 
finest  classical  hymns  are  altogether  omitted,  such  as  "Ein' 
feste  Burg  ist  unser  Gott,"  "Alleiu  zu  Dir,  Herr  Jesu 
Christ,"  "Herzlich  lieb  hab  ich  Dich,  0  Herr,"  "  Wie 
schon  leuchtet  der  Morgenstern,"  "  Wachet  auf !  ruft  uns 
die  Stimme,"  "Jerusalem,  du  hochgebaute  Stadt,"  "  Ver- 
zage  nicht,  du  Hauflein  klein,"  "  Eins  ist  noth,  ach  Herr, 
diess  Eine,"  "  Wie  tuhrst  Du  doch  so  selig,  Herr,  die  Dei- 
nen,"  "Es  gliinzet  der  Christen  inwendiges  Leben,"  "Es 
kostet  viel  ein  Christ  zu  seyn,"   "  Heiligster  Jesu,  Heil'- 


18G0.]  German  llymnology.  -41 

gungsquelle,"  "  A.ch,  mein  Herr  Jesu,  dein  Xahcscyn  " — 
in  some  oven  the  German  To  Dcuni  :  "Nun  danket  Alle 
Gott,"  and  others  of  like  character  ;  whilst  other  old  hymns 
again  have  been  mutilated  and  abbreviated  without  the 
slightest  regard  to  the  original  text  or  the  internal  connec- 
tion.* To  make  up  for  these  omissions  we  arc  presented 
with  a  mass  of  weak,  prosaic  and  even  rationalistic  rhymes, 
such  as  "  Religion,  von  Gott  gegeben,"  "  Tugcnd  let  der 
Seele  Lcben,"  "Dos  Leibeswarten  und  ihn  nahren'  "Gott, 
dass  man  sieh  selber  licbe,  Kann  dir  nicht  zuwider  seyn  ; 
Denn  dii  pllanzest  diese  Triebe  Uuser  Brustja  selber  ein," 
"Lass  mich,  0  Gott,  gewissenhaft  Mein  irdisch  Gut  ver- 
walten,"  "  Laut  und  majestatisch  rollet  Ueber  una  der 
Donner  hin,"  "  Ich  stcrbim  Tode  nicht  !  Mich  iiberzeugen 
Griindc,  die  ich,  jc  mehr  ich  forsch'.  In  meinem  A\"esen 
iinde."  And  what  confusion  in  the  arrangement!  Instead 
of  the  simple,  clear,  practical  division  according  to  the 
church-year,  or  the  order  of  salvation  and  the  development 
of  the  Christian  life,  we  have  sections  like  these,  "  On  sing- 
ing in  general,"  "  On  the  ways  of  Man  to  God,"  "  On  the 
ways  of  God  to  Man,"  "  On  Religion,"  "  On  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments," "On  the  Benefits  of  Virtue,"  "On  Inter- 
course with  Good  Men,"  "On  well-ordered  Self-love," 
"On  Contentment  with  our  Condition,"  "On  the  lawful 
Care  of  Property,"  "  On  the  Duties  of  different  Classes," 
"On  Duties  in  regard  to  the  Body,"  "  Duties  toward  Ani- 
mals," "At  the  Departure  of  Friends,"  "  Death  of  a  Mis- 
sionary," "  Think  on  the  End,"  "The  Rising  and  Setting 
of  the  Sun,"  and  more  of  the  same  kind. 

*  Of  the  bo- called  "  Gemeinschaftlichen  Gesangbuch,"  which  is  beneath 
all  criticism,  a  mere  publishers'  speculation,  we  do  not  wish  to  Bpeak,  al- 
though, perhaps  on  account  of  its  cheapness,  it  has  obtained  the  wid<  si  cir- 
culation amongst  the  Lutheran,  Reformed  and  Evangelical  Churches. 
proof  for  what  we  say,  take  the  "  Evangelische  Liedersammlung,"  which 
was  prepared  in  the  year  1888  by  the  order  and  for  the  use  of  the  L  ifheran 

neral  Synod,  and  still  in  its  latest  editions  bears  the  worthy  names  of  the 
Doctors  and  Pastors,  .) .  <i.  Schmucker,  P.  Sever,  A.  Loohmann,  E.  L.  Haze- 
liue,  B  ihmucker,  1).  V.  Sch'affer  and  .!.  (i.  Morris.     This  collection  has, 

it  is  true,  retained  a  <■  rable  Dumber  of  really  excellent  hymns  from  the 

older  Lutheran  Ilynm  Book  of  Muhlenberg, but  according  to  the  mechanical 
rule,  that  only  three  to  five  stanzas  shall  be  usually  Bung,  they  have  been  al- 
most without  exception  abbreviated  and  altered  bo  as  sometimes  to  be  Bcarce- 


242  German  Hymnology.  [April, 

From  this  destructive  hymnological  revolution  let  us 
now  turn  to  the  conservative  reform.  It  began  in  all  earnest- 
ness with  the  newly  awakened  Christian  life  in  the  evange- 
lical Church  of  Germany  after  the  Napoleonic  wars  and  the 
celebration  of  the  Centennial  Jubilee  of  the  Reformation. 
Since  then,  its  progress,  like  that  of  all  reforms  in  Germany, 
has  been  slow,  but  sure.  Already  it  has  produced  many 
excellent  practical  results.  Along  with  the  revival  of 
faith,  church-poetry  felt  a  new  inspiration  and  found  ut- 
terance through  gifted  and  pious  singers,  like  Novalis, 
Claudius,  Arndt,  Albertini,  Knapp,  Spitta,  Kern,  Bahrdt, 
Adolph  and  Friedrich  Wilhelm  Krummacher,  Mowes, 
Zeller,  Stier,  Victor  Strauss,  Puchta,  J.  P.  Langeand  Meta 
Heusser.  They  have  added  to  the  old,  hymns  whicb,  al- 
though scarce  equal  to  the  classic  productions  of  the  six- 
teenth and  seventeenth  centuries  in  objective  popular  cast, 
power,  unction  and  simplicity,  often  surpass  them  in  the 
flow,  correctness  and  elegance  of  their  language  and  de- 
serve an  honorable  place  in  every  general  collection  as 
poetic  fruits  of  the  evangelical  faith  of  the  nineteenth  cen- 
tury. 

ly  recognizable.  Thus,  the  hymn,  "Es  ist  das  Heil  uns  kommen  her,"  has 
only  four  stanzas  instead  of  the  original  fourteen,  "Ich  bin  getauft  auf 
Deinen  Nanien,"  two  instead  of  seven,  "  In  alien  meinen  Thaten,"  four  in- 
stead of  fifteen,  "Liebe,  die  du  roich  zum  Bilde,"  three  instend  of  seven, 
"Werde  Licht;  du  Voile  dcr  Heiden,"  two  instead  of  fifteen,  "  Du  sagst 
Ich  bin  ein  Christ,"  four  instead  of  sixteen,  "0  Ilaupt,  voll  Blut  und  Wun- 
den,"  six  instead  of  ten,  "  Befiehl  du  deine  "Wege,"  six  instead  of  twelve, 
"  Wir  Menschen  sind  zu  dem,  0  Gott,"  five  instead  of  ten,  "  Der  Heir  ist 
Gott  und  keiner  mehr,"  three  instead  of  eight,  "Wir  sind  die  vor  Gottes 
Throne,"  five  instead  of  fourteen,  "  Diess  ist  der  Tag,  den  Gott  gemacht," 
four  instead  of  eleven,  and  the  rest  in  like  ratio.  In  favor  of  the  compilers 
it  is  but  fair  to  state,  that  the  fault  in  this  case  lies  for  the  most  part  with 
the  careless  type-setter  and  proof-reader,  as  Dr.  Schmucker  of  Gettysburg  has 
lately  informed  me.  Hisveneiablc  father,  the  chairman  of  the  committee, 
compiled  this  collection  from  two  older  American  hymn-books  (that  of  Muh- 
lenberg and  another  published  in  Baltimore)  and  handed  over  these  books  to 
the  type-setter  with  a  list  and  the  direction  to  set  up  of  the  marked  hymns 
always  1-3  stanzas  or  1-5  from  the  beginning,  and  the  last  or  the  few  last  at 
the  close  ;  but  the  type-setter  mistook  the  hyphen  for  a  comma  and  set  up, 
instead  of  the  first  three  or  five  stanzas,  only  the  first  and  the  fifth,  together 
with  the  conclusion  !  This  blunder  was  overlooked  by  the  proof-reader  and 
first  discovered  by  the  author  to  his  great  sorrow,  when  the  book  had  already 
been  stereotyped  and  could  then  be  only  partially  corrected.  Perhaps  it  is 
owing  to  the  same  mischance,  that  this  Lutheran  hymn-book,  among  its  420 
hymns,  has  not  a  single  one  from  the  pen  of  Luther,  not  even  his  "  Ein'  feste 
Burg  ;"  the  German  Te  Deum.  "  Nun  danket  Alle  Gott,"  is  likewise  wanting. 


I860-]  German. Bymnohgy.  243 

The  first  movement  toward  hyranolo^ical  reform  had 
its  actual  beginning  in  the  Berlin  Synod  of  the  year  1817, 
since  a   resolution   was   there   passed   to   publish   a  nei 
hymn-book,  which  appeared  in  1820  under  the  ausj         of 
the  celebrated  names  of  Schleiermacher  and  There  uiin,  and 
in  an  aesthetical  view  at  Least  showed  decided  progress,  a 
though  it   vet   stood  far  behind  the  present  demands  of 
hymnology  ami  presented  the  older  church-hymns  for  tl. 
most  part  trimmed    up  artificially  like  box-tre         Then, 
accompanied  by  various  schenu     .    r  improvement,  can.  \ 
critical  investigations  of  the    *■  l  buchnoth"  (hymn- 

ological  desolation)  by  Moritz  Arndt  (1819),  Wilhelmi 
(1824),  Carl  von  Raumer  (1829  and  1831),  Bunsen  (1830 
and  1833),  Rudolph  Stier  (1835),  II.  Kraz  (1838),  C.  Griin- 
eisen  (1830),  and  G.  Chr.  II.  Stip  (1841  and  1842). 

Meanwhile,  the  I  ires  of  the  past,  partly  in  unaltered 

and  partly  in  polished,  modernized  forms,  either  alone,  or 
in  connection  with  the  later  products  of  the  Christian 
Muse,  have  been  collected  into  larger  hymn ological  works, 
which  thus  furnish  the  necessary  material  for  the  construc- 
tion of  new  hymn-books.  To  this  department  belong  A. 
J.  Rambach's  "  Anthologie  christlicher  i  ange"  (1817- 
1822  in  4  volumes),  Bunsena  tk  \  ch  eines  allgem. 
evangel.  Gesang-und  Gebetbuchs"  (1833  with  934  hymns 
the  "Berliner  Liederschatz"  (elaborated  by  Langbecki 
and  Eisner  in  1S32  and  essentially  improved  in  the  2d  ed. 
of  1840,  which  contains  1564  hymns),  .V.  Knapp's,  Evan- 
gel is  cher  Liederschatz"  (1837  with  3590  hymns,  which  are 
in  general  far  too  much  altered;  then  a  second  ition  in 
1850  fully  reconstructed  on  essentially  different  and  more 
correct  principles,  with  3Q67  hymns'1  i,  K.  E.  Ph.  Wackerna- 

*  Knapp  confesses  in  the  Preface,  p.  xi,    thai  in^the  first  edition  he  ••  I 
ae  to   work  too   subjectively   and  had   overstepped   the   mark  a   hui 
till.  This)  -i"ii   does  him  honor,  and,  in   conection  w^th  his 

undeniable  merits  as  a  hymnologist,  places  him  in  a  better  lighl  than  his 
paleologizing  opponents  Stip  and  \  el,  who  have  attacked  him  with 

m  -  severity.     The  letter  in  his  discourse  before  the   Bremen  Church 

Die!  of  1852,  p,  1  13,  w  al  so  far  as  to  deny  him  the  p<  ion  of  "  any  \  es- 

'  ohurohly  taste."     [lis  second  edition,  however,   has  almost  rei 
the  first  one  US<  Ideal  jum  ; 


244  German  Hymnology.  [April, 

gel's  diplomatically  accurate  "Deutsches  Kireheulied  von 
Luther  bis  N".  Hermann  and  A.  Blaurer"  (1842  in  2 
volumes),  H.  A.  Daniel's  "  Evangelisches  Kiichengesang- 
buch"  (1842)  and  the  Greek  and  Latin  "Thesaurus  Hymn- 
ologicus  "  by  the  same  author  (1841-1846  in  5  vols.)  J.  P. 
Lange's  "  Kirch enliederbuch  "  (1843  with  909  bvmns  and 
a  hymnological  introduction),  and  E.  Koehs'  "  Geschichte 
des  Xirchenlieds  and  Kirehengesangs"  (2d  edition  1852- 
1854  in  4  volumes). 

On  the  basis  of  these  and  similar  preparatory  works,  a 
number  of  improved  hymn-books  for  practical  use  in  the 
churches  have  been  issued,  in  part  by  individual  hymno- 
logists,  as  those  by  C.  von  Raumer  (1831  and  1846  with 
564  hymns),  by  R.  Stier  (1835  with  915  hymns),  by  Bun- 
sen  (1846  with  440  hymns),  by  Stip,  or  rather  by  the 
Evangelische  Biicherverein  in  Berlin  (1851  with  879 
hymns),  and  by  A.  Knapp  (1855  with  730  hymns);  partly 
also  by  commissions  for  entire  state-churches,  as  that  of 
Berlin  (1829  with  ,876  hymns),  that  of  W iirtemburg  first 
in  1839  with  wise  foresight  merely  on  trial,  then  in  1842 
formally  published,  with  651  hymns),  that  of  SchafThausen 
(1841),  that  of  Hamburg  (1843  with  784  hymns),  that  of 
Aarau  (1844  with  360  hymns),  that  of  Reformed  Elberfeld 
(1853  with  243  hymns  along  with  the  psalms),  that  of 
Bavaria  (1854  with  573  hymns),  that  of  Basel  (1854  with 
405  hymns),  that  of  Silesia  (1855),  that  of  Osnabruck  (1856 
with  200  h\mns),  that  of  Lubeck  (1855,  on  trial,  with  450 
hymns),  that  of  Hesse  (1855),  that  of  Lutheran  Elberfeld 
(1857  with  522  hymns),  and  several  more,  some  of  which 
are  still  waiting  for  the  formal  sanction  of  their  respective 
church-authorities.  Among  these  new  hymn-books  of  the 
state-churches,  that  of  Wurtemberg  is  the  most  popular 
and  has  the  widest  circulation.  Beyond  question,  es- 
pecially if  compared  with  the  earlier  one  of  1791,  it  possess- 
es great  value,  but,  to  its  own  detriment,  it  appeared  about 
ten  years  too  soon,  and  is,  besides,  somewhat  too  local  in 
its  character.  It  has  paid  too  little  regard  to  the  old,  and 
too  much  to  the  new,  for  which  reason  Koch  compares  it 
to  an  auction,  in  which  the  people,  instead  of  the  full  sum, 


I860.]  German  Hymnology, 

iceive  only  about  60  or  7<>  per  cent  Bat  the  book  whn  h 
deserves  the  highest  respect,  both  on  account  of  its  origin 
and  design,  is  the  "Deutsche  Evan  gel  ische  Kirchengesang- 
buch    in    150    Kernlieder,"    first   pi         ed  by  the   Berlin 

Shurch  Conference  of  the  year  1846,  then  decided  on  by 

be  German  Church  Diet  at  Bremen  in  1852  and  finally 

prepared  and  published,  in  1853,  along  with  appropriate 

tunes,  by  the  Eisenach  Church  Conference  through  a  com- 

m  q  composed  of  the  most  able  hymnologists  from  the 
various  State-Churches  (the  Doctors  Vilmar,  Bahr,  Daniel, 
Wackernagel,  Pastor  Geffcken,  Baron  von  Tucher  and  Dr. 

Faisst).     This  book  ought  henceforth  to  form   a  common 

round-work  for  all  new   German   hymn-books  and  thi 
aid  in  doing  away   the  lamentable  confusion,    which  now 
prevails  in  the  text  of  hymns  and  in  the  melodies.     The 
plan  is  excellent  and  the  execution  has  succeeded  as  far 
one  could  fairly  expect  in  such   a  difficult  task  under  the 
present  circumstances.     And  yet  the   book  has  met  with 
only  a  limited  reception,   and  for  the   reasons  mainly,  be- 
cause it  lias  been  constructed  on  principles  manifestly  too 
archaeological  and  Lutheran  (although,  on  the  other  side, 
untrue  to  its  method,  it  lias  abbreviated  too  much  and  al- 
tered such  hymns  as  "  Schmiieke  dich,  o  liebe  Secle,"  on 
which  account,  Wackernagel,  who  opposed  any  alterations 
whatever,  withdrew  from   the  commission)  ;  and   because, 
moreover,  it  exeludes  entirely  not  only  all  hymn-writers 
since  the  year  1750,  but  also  those  of  the  poetic  school  i 
Spener,  of  the  Moravians,  from  whom  not  a  single  oneh. 
been  taken,  and  even  of  the  Reformed  Church,  which,  of 
its   150  hymns,   has  furnished   barely  4  (from   the  pens  < 
Joachim  Neander  and  Louisa  Henrietta  of  Brandenburg  . 
thus  doing  open  violence  to  the  principle  oft'  'leal 

CTnioi  .       Therefore,  we  must  award  to  thecounter-pr< 
ofDr.  Geffcken,  a  member  of  the  Eisenach   Conferem   . 

*  The  Lutheran  Koch  baa  ju  tly  remarked  (v.  iv.  y.  723),  ib.it  (lie   mi: 
hymn  of  Tei  d,  "Gott  i.-i   .  je'artig"  would  outweigh    ;i   larg<  aum- 

r  of  the  Ei  b  Collection,  and  that  the  entire  exclusion  of  the  hymns 

Arnold,  J.  C  Schade,  Richter,  J.  J,  Rambach,  B  y,  1  h. 

Pr.  Hiller;  G otter,  Zin?endorf  and  Lampe  is  the  more  worthy  of  censure,  be- 
eanse  ;ill  these  poets  Lived  I  <  fore  t lie  year  17uU  and  are  of  the  most  distin- 
guished rank. 


246  German  Hymnology.  [April, 

although  on  the  whole  less  satisfactory,  a  partial  pre- 
ference, and  consider  the  Eisenach  scheme  merely  as  a  "first 
attempt  upon  a  new  path,  which  like  all  first  attempts 
should  be  regarded  with  due  honor  and  respect. 

This  hymnological  reform  has  indeed  borne  fruits  of  the 
highest  value  to  the  Christian  world,  but  the  results  as  yet 
fall  far  below  the  general  want,  and  hence  there  is  wide 
room  for  progress.     Its  final  aim  cannot  be  a  blind  restora- 
tion of  all  the  old,  and  an  arbitrary  rejection  of  all  the  new, 
fixing  the  year  1750  as  the  dividing  line,  just  as  if  the  foun- 
tains of  church-poetry  had  at  that  time    dried  up  forever 
and    the  Holy  Spirit   forsaken    the  churches.     We  must 
rather  endeavor  to  unite  old  and  new  in  one  harmonious 
wdiole  by  careful  selection    and  due  reverence  for  original 
purity.     The  reactionary,  antiquarian  leaning  ofaStipand 
a  "Wackernagel,  which   would  retain  at  all  hazards  even 
such  hymns  as  Luther's  "  Steur'   des  Pabsts   und  Turken 
Mord,"  in  spite  of  the  manifest  consumption  of  the  latter, 
although   they   are  not   suited   to  our  age,    especially   in 
Americaf,   has  indeed  its  full  historical  right  and  merit 
against  the  opposite   extreme  of  subjective    modernizing, 
but  is  itself  also  an  extreme.  The  true  course  no  doubt  lies 
betwixt  stiff  antiquarianism  on  the  one  side  and  a  rage  for 
amendment  on  the  other,  thus,  in  a  loving  resuscitation  of 
the  old  and  good  in  a  form  adapted  to  the  present  want, 
and  a  free  use  of  the  finest  products  of  our  time,  in  which 
the  Spirit  of  God  is  moving  powerfully  among  the  churches 
and  waking  the  dead  bones  to  life  again.     It  should  no 
longer  be  denied,  that  in  every  new  hymnological  work  we 
must  pass  beyond  the  period  of  rationalistic  adulteration  to 
primitive  sources  and  treat  the  old  hymns  with  conscien- 
tious fidelity.     On  this  historical  path  alone  can  anything 
beneficial  be  accomplished.     But,   on  the  other  hand,  we 
must  discriminate  between    a  scientific  collection  for  his- 
torical and  critical  purposes  and  a  popular  hymn-book  for 


f  Among  those  on  (his  side  of  the  -water,  the  Old  Lutheran  Hymn  Book  of 
St.  Louis  alone  occupies  this  position,  having  been  prepared  according  to  the 
strictest  archaistic  principles. 


18C0.]  Gi  man  Hymnology.  2  W 

practical  use  in  Christian  congregations.  Then  it  is  to 
be  remembered,  that  the  old  church-hymns  are  neither 
divinely  inspired  psalms,  nor  even  symbolical  books,  al- 
though they  stand  next  to  the  latter  and  arc  in  a  certain 
measure  more  important  for  the  people.  The  present  age, 
with  its  linguistic  culture  and  taste,  and  the  congregations 
with  their  practical  wants,  have  also  their  rights,  which  must 
be  duly  respected  and  honored.  The  old  hymns  could  not 
lose,  but  only  gain  and  become  generally  acceptable,  if 
purged  of  grammatical  errors  (such  as,  "ihr  englischen 
Choren"  for  Chore,  "die  offhen  Liebeearmen"  for  Liebes- 
arme,  "Koste1'  for  Kost),  of  antiquated — we  do  not  meau 
antique — forms  of  words  (as,  "leit"  for  liegt,  "tugen"  for 
taugen,  "ferren"  for  fern),  of  unintelligible  and  offensive 
expressions  (like  "  Osterfladen,"  "Eya,"  "  Sundenkoth," 
"  Sundengrind"),  of  Latinisms  (such  as,  "Lasset  die  Musi- 
cam  boren,"  ';  Potentaten,"  "Lucerne,"  "  Consorten,"  "in 
dulci  jubilo,"  "cithara,"  "coeli  rosa"),  as  well  as  of  defec- 
tive figures  and  allegorical  fancies  (of  most  frequent  oc- 
currence in  Pietistic  and  Moravian  hymns), — provided, 
these  improvements  were  made  with  conscientious  and 
tender  regard  and  caution,  with  cultivated  taste  and  in  the 
sense  and  spirit  of  the  hymn,  the  poet  and  his  age, — just 
as  near  as  possible  to  what  the  author  himself  would  now 
make,  if  he  were  living  am  on  erst  u  On  account  of  the 
extraordinary  length  and  prolonged  repetitions  of  many  of 
the  finest  hymns,  a  prudent  regard  to  economy  of  spa<  e  and 
cheapness  not  seldom  renders  abbreviation  admissible, — 
provided  it  docs  no  injury  to  the  unity  and  completenet 
of  the  hymn  and  confers  on  it  greater  terseness,  polish  and 
utility. 

It  is  now  high  time  to  make  the  results  of  this  hymno- 
loerical  investigation  and  hymn-book  reform  available  for 
the  German  churches  of  America,  and  that  not  by  a  blavie 
transfer  from  this  or  that  lied  .  or  hymn-book,  but  on 

the  basis  of  an  independent  Btudy  oforiginal  soui      .  with 
a  free  use  of  the  best  aids  from  every  quarter.     Preach* 
and  congregations  have  been  long  wishing  fora  book  eon 

ructed  on  certain,  iixed  hymnological  principle* 


248  German  Hymnology.  [April, 

The  aim  of  the  present  collection  is  to  meet  this  desire. 
It  was  prepared  with  much  labor  and  conscientious  indus- 
try from  the  best  hymnological  resources  accessible  to  us, 
originally  by  the  order  and  for  the  use  of  the  Reformed 
Church,  yet  without  any  denominational  narrowness  and 
with  continual  regard  to  the  common  need  of  the  German 
churches  in  the  United  States.  The  present  large  or  crit- 
ical edition  is  designed  chiefly  for  a  smaller  circle  of  readers, 
but  will  soon  be  followed  by  a  cheaper  one  of  less  size  in 
which  the  critical  apparatus  will  be  omitted.  Whether 
the  work  is  indeed  suited  to  the  wants  of  the  time,  experi- 
ence must  decide.  Hence  we  will  confine  ourselves  to  the 
announcement  of  the  general  principles  which  have  guided 
us  in  its  preparation,  with  the  simple  remark  that  even  the 
best  hymnological  principles  in  their  application  to  con- 
crete material  may  be  obliged  to  undergo  considerable 
modification,  practical  wants  and  economical  necessities 
often  standing  in  the  way  of  strict  rules.  Thus  we  were 
forced,  against  our  wish,  to  abbreviate  a  number  of  hymns 
and  wholly  exclude  more  than  sixty  others,  because  they 
would  have  made  the  book  too  bulky  and  too  dear. 

1.  A  hymn-book,  to  meet  the  demands  of  the  present 
state  of  scientific  hymnology  and  at  the  same  time  the 
practical  wants  of  the  congregation,  should,  if  possible, 
contain  only  classic  hymns,  derived  from  all  ages  and  divis- 
ions of  the  Church,  from  the  psalms  of  David  down  to  the 
latest  products  of  the  Christian  Muse,  in  a  word,  such 
hymns  as  are  distinguished  by  genuine  Scriptural  and  de- 
votional contents  and  poetic  worth,  by  sacred  unction, 
depth  and  purity  of  feeling,  dignity  and  simplicity  of  lan- 
guage and  fitness  for  being  sung,  whether  already  in 
general  use,  or  not; — whilst,  on  the  other  hand,  offensive 
dogmatism,  subjective  caprice  or  mediocrity  in  contents  and 
form,  prosaic  dullness,  weak  sentimentalism  and  trifling, 
artificial  phraseology,  a  dry,  didactic  tone  and  similar  de- 
fects warrant  the  exclusion  of  such  hymns  as  have  found 
admittance  into  most  of  our  American  hymn-books,  al- 
though they  have  never  met  with  any  special  favor  among 
the  people. 


18G0.]  (    rman  Hymnology.  240 

'1.  The  original  text,  as  it  flowed  from  the  poetic  inspira- 
tion of  the  author  and  is  contained  in  the  first  editions  of  bie 
hymns  or  in  the  most  reliable  and  best  acknowledagd  hymn- 
books,  must  in  all  eases  form  the  standard,  deviations  from 
which  can  only  be  allowed,  where  the  laws  of  language  and 
taste,  or  regard  to  the  actual   wants  of  the  congregation, 

'  o  DO? 

render  them  necessary  and  desirable. 

3.  The  arrangement  should  so  blend  the  order  of  the 
Apostle's  Creed  and  the  evangelical  Church  Year  together, 
that  in  it  the  historical  course  of  the  divine  plan  of  re- 
demption as  well  as  the  development  of  the  Christian  life 
from  conversion  and  regeneration  on  to  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  aud  the  fruition  of  heavenly  bliss  should  be 
mirrored  in  a  simple,  graphic  and  complete  manner  for 
convenient  practical  use. 

4.  Within  the  particular  divisions,  the  chronological 
order  should  be  followed  wherever  possible,  so  that  the 
stream  of  the  Christian  life  can  be  traced  in  church-song 
from  the  singers  of  Israel  through  the  Apostolic  age,  the 
old  Catholic  period  and  the  Reformation  until  now,  pre- 
senting thus  a  bird's  eye  view  of  the  essential  unity  and 
diversity  of  faith  and  worship. 

5.  The  Reformed  hymn-writers  of  earlier  and  later 
times — John  Zwick,  Joachim  Neander,  Louisa  Henrietta 
of  Brandenburg,  Lampe,  Tersteegen,  Annoni,  Zollikoffer, 
Pauli,  Lavater,  Adolph  and  F.  W.  Krummachcr,  Hagen- 
bach,  J.  P.  Langc  aud  Meta  Heusser-Schweizer — deserve 
more  consideration  than  they  have  generally  received  in 
German  hymn-books.  Just  as  little  should  the  tin  est 
hymns  of  the  Moravians  and  the  modern  Evangelical 
Church  be  passed  over,  and  in  a  work  designed  for  Amer- 
ica, good  translations  from  English  authors  like  Watts, 
Wesley,  Cowper  and  Newton  are  altogether  in  place. 

6.  The  critical  and  explanatory  remarks,  which  introduce 
the  hymns,  somewhat  in  the  manner  of  the  superscriptions 
of  the  Hebrew  psalms,  were  added  last,  and  are  only  in- 
tended for  the  large  edition.  Although  better  suited  for 
a  collection  of  a  purely  scientific  and   literary   character, 


250  German  Hymnology.  [April, 

they  will  no  doubt  prove  very  acceptable  to  many  minis- 
ters and  layman,  because  they  give  in  brief  compass  a 
great  deal  of  interesting  information,  brought  together 
from  a  number  of  sources,  some  of  them  difficult  of  access. 
They  contain  one  feature  altogether  new — the  references 
to  successful  English  translations, — by  which  the  compiler 
hoped  to  prepare  the  way  for  transplanting  many  of  the 
best  German  hymns  into  English-American  collections 
which  may  hereafter  be  prepared  for  use  in  the  Churches. 
The  friends  of  German  hymnology  will  rejoice  to  see  their 
blessed  influence  extending  thus  beyond  their  original 
limits  into  another  tongue. 

7.  In  its  style  of  publication,  the  work  far  surpasses  any 
American-German  hymn-book  that  has  yet  appeared,  and 
is  equal  to  any  of  those  published  in  the  English  language. 

Such  are  the  principles,  which  were  constantly  kept  in 
view  by  the  author.  And  yet,  he  is  fully  conscious  that 
the  work  is  imperfect  and  below  his  own  ideal  of  what  a 
German  hymn-book  should  be.  "Nor  does  he  look  for  uni- 
versal  approval.  He  simply  asks  those  who  may  miss  this 
or  that  favorite  hymn  in  its  pages,  to  observe  that  about  a 
hundred  hymns  are  found  here,  which  are  contained  in  no 
other  American  collection,  and  to  remember  that  in  the 
nature  of  things  it  is  not  possible  to  satisfy  the  claims  and 
wishes  of  every  individual.  Of  the  truly  classic  hymns  few 
will  be  found  missing,  and  the  candid  critic  will  be  obliged 
to  confess  that  not  a  single  one  has  been  admitted,  which 
does  not  breathe  the  spirit  of  genuine  Christianity  andean 
not  be  sung  or  read  with  profit.  We,  therefore,  in  good 
hope  consign  this  book  to  the  German  evangelical  Churches 
of  America,  with  the  wish  and  prayer  that  to  all  who  use 
it  the  Lord  will  make  it  a  source  of  rich  blessing  until 
it  has  fulfilled  its  mission  and  given  place  at  last  to  a 
better. 

T.  C.  P. 


the 


MRCERSBURG  REVIEW: 


EDITED   FOR 


£  I)  c  %  I  s  m  n  i  Association 


OF 


FRANKLIN  AND  MARSHALL  COLLEGE; 


BY 


REV.  E.  V.  GERHART,  D.  D.  AND  REV.  P.  SCHAFF,  D.  D. 


Neque  enira  queero  intelligere  ut  credam,  sed  credo  ut  intelligara. — Anselm. 


APRIL,  1860. 


VOLUME  XII.— NEW  SERIES,  NUMBER  II. 


PUBLISHED  FOR  THE  ALUMNI  ASSOCIATION 

LY   GEORGE  B.  RTSSELL,    PITTSBTRG,    PA 


CHAMBERSBURG: 
M.     KIEFFER    &     CO. 

18G0. 


Postage  :  any  distance,  quarterly  in  advance,  4  cents. 


APRIL  NUMBER  FOB.  1 860. 


ARTICLE.  TAGE. 

T.  Const  antine  the  Great,  .        .        .        .        273 

By  the  Rev.  Philip  Schaff,  D.  D.,  Mercersburg,  Pa. 

II.  The  Old  Doctrine  of  Christian  Baptism,      .        190 

By  the  Rev.  John  W.  Nevin,  D.  D.  Lancaster,  Pa. 

III.  The  English  Language,        .        .        .        .         216 

.  By  the  Rev.  Edmond  Emerson,  Greencastle,  Pa. 

IV.  German  Hymnology, 228 

By  the  Rev.  Thomas  C.  Porter,  Lancaster,  Ta. 

V.  Religion  and  Christianity,  .         .         .         251 

By  the  Rev.  E.  V.  Gerhart,  D.  D.,  Lancaster,  Pa. 

VI.  What  is  a  Catechumen  ?  269 

By  the  Rev.  Henry  Harbaugh,  Lancaster,  Pa. 

VII.  Mansel's  Limits  of  Religious  Thought,      .         294 

By  the  Rev.  E.  V,  Gerhart,  D.  D.,  Lancaster,  Pa. 

VIII.  Recent  Publications, o16 


